I didn’t say anything about a God-shaped hole. You’re reading something different into my question, or maybe trying to cubbyhole my question into a stereotype that doesn’t quite fit.
Whenever I do anything, I have an idea of how that fits into a larger objective. One exception might be activities that I do for simplistic hedonism, but that doesn’t provide the full range of satisfaction and joy that I feel when I feel like I’m making progress in something. The pleasure in the idea of taking over galaxies is very much progress-based, and so it would be natural to ask why this would actually be progress.
Substitute “meaning” for “God”, then. The problem is trying to fit everything into a “larger objective”: whose objective? That’s what I mean when I say you’re presupposing the answer.
Also, “why would taking over galaxies be progress?” can be answered pretty simply once you explain what you mean by “progress”. Technological advancement? Increased wealth? Curiosity?
If I had the catch-all cure to existential angst, I wouldn’t be parroting it on here, I’d be trying to sell it for millions!
Maybe you could call it a hardware problem, since I’d liken it to a virus. You’ve been corrupted to look for a problem when there isn’t one, and you know there isn’t one, but you just don’t feel emotionally satisfied (correct me if I’m wrong here). I don’t have an answer for that. I would suspect that the more you distance yourself from these kinds of views (that the universe must have “meaning” and all that), the question just stops being even relevant. I think the problem just involves breaking a habit.
That’s not the question you’re asking. There’s no God-shaped hole in answering “because we feel like taking over galaxies” until you put it there.
I didn’t say anything about a God-shaped hole. You’re reading something different into my question, or maybe trying to cubbyhole my question into a stereotype that doesn’t quite fit.
Whenever I do anything, I have an idea of how that fits into a larger objective. One exception might be activities that I do for simplistic hedonism, but that doesn’t provide the full range of satisfaction and joy that I feel when I feel like I’m making progress in something. The pleasure in the idea of taking over galaxies is very much progress-based, and so it would be natural to ask why this would actually be progress.
Substitute “meaning” for “God”, then. The problem is trying to fit everything into a “larger objective”: whose objective? That’s what I mean when I say you’re presupposing the answer.
Also, “why would taking over galaxies be progress?” can be answered pretty simply once you explain what you mean by “progress”. Technological advancement? Increased wealth? Curiosity?
Good. Your comments above now make good sense to me.
That’s my problem. Maybe it’s a problem common to many theists too. Any cures? And is this problem a hardware problem or a logic problem?
If I had the catch-all cure to existential angst, I wouldn’t be parroting it on here, I’d be trying to sell it for millions!
Maybe you could call it a hardware problem, since I’d liken it to a virus. You’ve been corrupted to look for a problem when there isn’t one, and you know there isn’t one, but you just don’t feel emotionally satisfied (correct me if I’m wrong here). I don’t have an answer for that. I would suspect that the more you distance yourself from these kinds of views (that the universe must have “meaning” and all that), the question just stops being even relevant. I think the problem just involves breaking a habit.
Then Robin would have a field day explaining why people did not actually buy it, despite the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth.